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The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was born in a region known for its decades of strife, poverty and religious extremism. But was their creation inevitable? Was the Middle East always leading down the path to an era of beheadings and Islamic Caliphates? Or are outside reasons to blame for its creation? And what hope is there for the future?

May 11, 2004. The World is stunned to see a horrific video posted on a militant group’s propaganda website that shows the beheading of Nick Berg, a American freelance radio-tower repairman who went to Iraq and went missing in March. The group responsible was named “Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad” (Group of Monotheism and Jihad) and there path of destruction would become known to the world and the soldiers fighting in Iraq. This group would later come to be known as “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” after declaring allegiance to Osama Bin Laden a couple months later, and it would grow later into ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Its leader, Abu Musab Al-Zargawi, will become known as a leader of death and blood.

The Middle East’s own 30 Years War has just begun

In January, Douglas Murray explained in The Spectator how relations in the Middle East were becoming increasingly tense. With northern Iraq now in turmoil, following the advance of Islamist militant group Isis, Douglas’s insight seems prescient.

Syria has fallen apart. Major cities in Iraq have fallen to al-Qa’eda. Egypt may have stabilised slightly after a counter-coup. But Lebanon is starting once again to fragment. Beneath all these facts — beneath all the explosions, exhortations and blood — certain themes are emerging.

It’s time to declare independence in South KurdistanAs a freelance writer, in 2005 I wrote an article on the Dutch-Kurdish ‘Azady’ news website about Federalism in Iraq and why it would fail and lead to Kurdish independence in the end.

We are now in 2014 and my opinion has not changed. Federalism does not work in Iraq and most Kurds will agree with me.

The War in Syria: Manifestation of Regional and Global Transformations

To detect the regional and global implications of the more than two years of violent developments in Syria warrants an accurate definition of these developments. Borrowing the classifications of conflicts by relevant scholars (Harbom, 2004; Stewart & Brow, 2007; Pettersson & Themner, 2009), a definition of the war in Syria can be formulated as follows:

With number of deaths exceeding 1000 and involving arms on both sides, the armed conflict in Syria represents a war between parties with incompatibility over the political system. Further the war is